Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me

I heard FWWM was disappointing after S1&2, but it seemed really seamless. In fact, I think I'll have trouble remembering which events happened in which. Granted, I blazed through S1&2, but FWWM was totally in accord. I think I'll just remember it as being the prequel, which will imply to my memory that it must be Laura's story, distinct from S1&2 which were post-Laura. But that's indirect memory; directly, it blends right in with the rest.

Sheryl Lee deserves some respect for this film. Did they know she could do this when she signed up for basically just being a homecoming portrait in Twin Peaks? This is a classic Lynch task, like Watts or Dern in their respective films: "a girl in trouble" conveying all manner of joy and anguish. Also conveying conventional cheese. Also being sexually vulnerable to the max. It's a role of utter abandon, which is what Lee gives it.

Everything Twin Peaks-related is more brutal and more surreal than I expected. I thought it'd be subdued in the supernatural like Blue Velvet, while tonally tame enough for TV. FWWM certainly bucks both expectations, probably more than the series, possibly because it's a movie. But even the series is pretty extra. Where it's not extreme in its violence, sexuality, or insanity, it's extreme in its misery. I mean these characters are miserable, without redemption! Is that what S3 is for? Redemption for these characters, long after viewers were eternally changed by the tragedy of the first two seasons? Yet I can picture BOB, aged 25 years further, snickering at the suggestion that S3 finds any satisfying morsel of justice. More likely, the reality is that the folks in Twin Peaks are doomed to senseless haunting by malevolent spirits, and that's that. Anyone who tries to save them will go insane at best, get raped and murdered at worst. Actually, worst case scenario is getting brainwashed into raping and murdering your daughter first, which is exactly what happened to Leland. I doubt there's any justice for all this misery. I don't recommend living in Twin Peaks.